Artist Profile
Dwight Duke

The gallery at Rosario Resort on Orcas is currently exhibiting eighteen of Dwight’s work in sculpture, oil painting, and prints. With Dwight’s company I viewed his art for the first time.

As I began moving through the gallery I was drawn towards the wall-mounted dragonflies first. As I have my own fascination with dragonflies, I notice intricate and unlikely components making up their overall shapes: castings of various bones and exoskeletons. Dwight has created both free standing and wall-mounted versions of these enormous creatures. The larger sculpture depicting two dragonflies in flight alone is comprised of 172 pieces taking two years to complete, and incorporates castings of elements in the natural world.

Those elements and details I later learn are reflective of Dwight’s early years spent interested in taxidermy coupled with his fascination for biology. His bronze sculpture entitled "Mother Earth" makes as much a statement on how the human race is inextricably intertwined to our planet as it is just beautiful. And his whimsical "Turtle" with its boxy shape and flattop, invites use as either bench or table. In all, an incredible display of imagination at work, not to mention his large and colorful oil paintings, and prints.

Dwight initially pursued studies in biology and pre-med, but upon further introspection recognized the need for an alternate outlet for his fascination to the natural world, and turned his attention to fine art. Fueled by his "obsessive fascination" with bronze, he focused on sculpture, and completed a fine art degree at Oregon State University in 1997, giving much credit to his mentor and art sculpture professor Tom Morandi. After graduation, Dwight’s sister Kristi Duke suggested he come up to Orcas Island. So on June 17, 1997 Dwight arrived on Orcas fresh out of college. He quickly found a place to rent that allowed him space to build a small foundry, and began working to create a very complicated self-portrait titled "Pieces."

A personal favorite of the artist, "Pieces" depicts a personal look at his connection of his past, present, and future self as intertwined with the world, with parts of contents formed into the overall skull shape shared between three faces: his youth, current self and elder, all together and held by the artist's own left hand. A very complicated piece to say the least, as there is not only one face, but also three–to comprise one head. Layered on top of the foundation of three faces are tremendous amounts of layers, creating transition points connecting each face, visual effects in the form of small gears, jigsaw puzzle segments, and continent reliefs–artifacts left for the viewer to discover after taking in the overall piece. The work of "Pieces" is complex, visionary and detailed. Just as inventive as “Pieces” is his more recent work titled "Mother Earth," which is currently available.

Dwight’s work reflects not only his fascination and interest to the physiological as well as the natural worlds, but he has also developed the ability to use his art to express his voice for social and political commentary, and feels that his art can be a vehicle that allows him to speak his mind, without "general approval." More recently his work on "Transformation" A.K.A (GMO), and "Eye Witness," which both point to changes and pressures in the animal world undergoing mutations and employ anthropomorphic characteristics like using human teeth shapes in the head of a ling cod, is part of his upcoming work titled “Consumed by Consumption.” He points out that it’s all about what we cannot see in nature, a sort of goings on behind the scenes, for which we are not fully aware of the degree of adaptation taking place within the natural world. With all that in mind he has currently turned his full attention to giving a voice to these unnatural phenomenas as he interprets them, which includes a piece on his work bench just in the initial stages titled "Bird Flu."

Dwight’s work is currently on exhibit at Rosario Resort, a collection of bronze sculpture, oil paintings, and prints located in the new gallery space of the mansion's west wing through February 28, 2006. To see Dwight and his work by appointment: 360- 376-6544. His art can also be viewed at www.dukestudios.com. Tori Williams is a web designer who also writes and produces the San Juan Islands’ Artist Community website, www.SanJuanArtistCommunity.com.